I am traveling for work (again) this week. I had one midterm paper due today and another one is due tomorrow. I have emailed them both to my instructors, so at least they're done. I have decided, all things considered, that they are both solid B papers, and that's okay. I don't like it, but it's reality. So I was talking to Brock on the phone tonight and he said "B is for Bueno" - which I liked.
When you are traveling for half the month your midterm papers are due, and you have dinners to go to and actual work you have to do each evening because the meetings you were in all day did not make it possible for you to do any work, a B just has to be okay, right? Really, at this point, I'm rather impressed that they're done and they're coherent.
I think I am going to try to be well-adjusted about this until I get my papers back. If I do, by some miracle, get an A on either of them, I am going to seriously consider dialing down the amount of effort I put into things. It would show that it is possible to get an A while being horribly distracted. *chuckle*
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
A bit of shameless self-congratulation
If you were one of the 100+ people who took my blog reader survey for my research class project last year, I would like to say THANK YOU - because I found out today that my paper is being published in my school's communication academic journal! Woo!
I am really excited; I enjoyed that project a lot and learned that I was a research nerd in the process of doing it. And...my paper got accepted to the journal with NO requests for edits! I am so jazzed. :)
I am really excited; I enjoyed that project a lot and learned that I was a research nerd in the process of doing it. And...my paper got accepted to the journal with NO requests for edits! I am so jazzed. :)
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Travel day
I am in California right now for work. I left our house at 10:15 this morning and got to my hotel around 6:20 Pacific time, roughly 10 hours later. It was a long day. Hannah was mad at me for leaving and almost refused to hug me goodbye, and then she didn' t want to talk to me on the phone. That made me very sad, but I understand. She doesn't get why I had to leave and I'd be mad, too. Besides, I don't like it, either. However, California is sunny and has palm trees, and even if I am here for work, there are worse places you can be forced to go (Exhibit A: St. Louis, which is my least favorite city I've ever visited, with apologies to the people who live there and actually like it).
Anyway, here are some amusing/interesting things that happened today.
Anyway, here are some amusing/interesting things that happened today.
- My flight landed at LAX 20 minutes EARLY, which I was sure meant I was in the Twilight Zone. But then my connecting flight was 30 minutes late, so the space/time continuum must have righted itself.
- I noticed that many women travelers at LAX were wearing heels. High ones. I cannot figure out why.
- I heard a girl having a VERY LOUD conversation on her cell phone where she was apparently telling a friend that her boyfriend had finally said, "I love you" for the first time. I resisted the urge to congratulate her.
- I ate peanut butter pretzels, which was a treat since we don't have peanut butter at home.
- I had a fish taco for dinner that was awesome. The shrimp taco, not so much.
- My rental car is a bright, electric blue PT Cruiser. At first I thought it was the dumbest car ever - I actually laughed out loud in the rental parking lot - but after I got in I decided it was SO CUTE and I've now fallen in love with it. I am certain I have the most unique rental car of any of my coworkers. Even the dashboard is electric blue. I have to remember not to speed.
- My plane was full of little kids, who were all pretty well-behaved, actually. I had a horrible stab of homesickness because the little girl in front of me was watching The Backyardigans on her portable DVD player.
- I actually did homework on the plane and worked till my laptop battery almost ran down. It was a bit tough to do anything without internet access, but I got a pretty good outline of my thoughts. It helped that the in-flight movie was dumb so I didn't want to watch it. (I can't remember what it was, but it had Keanu Reeves in it, which should explain well enough. It even looked stupid with no sound, which is never a good sign.)
- I bought a new book, A Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin, to read at LAX because my laptop battery was almost dead and I'd read both my magazines, and I had a long layover. It's very good and will probably keep me from doing any more homework on any more planes. :)
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Midterm panic
I have two midterm papers due in approximately two and a half weeks, and I have started neither of them.
It's not for lack of trying. I have fallen asleep looking up stuff on the computer more than once. But work has been crazy busy, and as a result I've been totally unmotivated to give up family/home time. So here I am, T minus 2.5 weeks, and not only do I have not a word written, but I'm also getting ready for two horrible weeks of business travel. Two weeks that coincide with the two weeks I have left to get these papers done.
How did I let this happen to myself? Bah!
I just needed to whine about that a bit. Tonight I must at least finish the first couple sections of one of these papers, or I am probably doomed. Nay, definitely doomed. Bah (again)!
The only consolation I have is that after this, I only have three times left in my entire life when I will have to deal with midterms. Because after I get this degree, I am SO DONE with school. Forever. Unless I'm teaching it.
It's not for lack of trying. I have fallen asleep looking up stuff on the computer more than once. But work has been crazy busy, and as a result I've been totally unmotivated to give up family/home time. So here I am, T minus 2.5 weeks, and not only do I have not a word written, but I'm also getting ready for two horrible weeks of business travel. Two weeks that coincide with the two weeks I have left to get these papers done.
How did I let this happen to myself? Bah!
I just needed to whine about that a bit. Tonight I must at least finish the first couple sections of one of these papers, or I am probably doomed. Nay, definitely doomed. Bah (again)!
The only consolation I have is that after this, I only have three times left in my entire life when I will have to deal with midterms. Because after I get this degree, I am SO DONE with school. Forever. Unless I'm teaching it.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Evil peanuts
Even though I typically prefer NEWSWEEK over Time, this is a pretty good article on all the fuss over peanut allergies.
I am a bit peeved by the people who seem to think "all the fuss" is just a bunch of parents overreacting and making it unnecessarily challenging for other people's kids to eat peanut butter sandwiches, but if you're going to have a balanced report, it does mean you have to let both sides have their say.
We have always tried to strike a good balance between being appropriately freaked-out by, and simultaneously reasonable about, Hannah's peanut allergy. We don't have peanuts at home, and we are really good at reading food labels. We picked a preschool that was consciously peanut-free and doesn't allow kids to bring food from home, so we're minimizing risk wherever we can. But we let her eat the cake at kids' birthday parties, and we eat out at restaurants all the time without creating a scene about what's in every single dish. (Besides, nothing on any kids' menu in any restaurant is very likely to have nuts in it, because it's all grilled cheese sandwiches, mac 'n' cheese and pizza.)
Still, having a kid with a food allergy - especially a peanut allergy, which is considered to be the most likely to result in the most serious reactions - means relying on other people to keep your kid safe...even more than any other parent has to do for any other kid. Our lesson on Epi-pens was terrifying, and even after carrying two with us everywhere we go for more than two years, I still live in fear of the day I might actually have to use them. I still catch my breath a bit when she eats a baked good that I have not been able to completely inspect, even if it is totally logical that a sugar cookie should be fine. But I also don't want to be "that mom" who makes a big huge deal out of stuff. I just want my kid to be able to eat without worrying that she's going to end up swollen in hives and unable to breathe.
Hannah's getting to the age where we are trying to teach her more about what it means that she's allergic to peanuts, and that she has to ask about new foods before she tries them. I think she's starting to get it - she at least knows that peanuts will make her "very sick." But I don't want to freak her out, either.
But I also want other parents to understand that peanut allergies are serious, and if you're not dealing with a food allergy in your family you should be grateful, certainly, but you should also be respectful of those who are. We don't want to be a pain, and we hate that we have to ask for special treatment sometimes. But we do it anyway, because we want our kids to be able to go out for ice cream just like yours (so we ask the person at the counter to go wash the scoop before they get Hannah's vanilla, or we just go for soft-serve straight from the machine); and we want our kids to be able to eat lunch with their friends without worrying about anything bad happening; heck, we also want them to be able to fly in a plane without fear, so is it really that big a deal if the airline has to give you pretzels rather than peanuts? We're just trying to keep them safe, and while we don't want to have to ask for your help, we still have to. You would, too, if it were your kid.
I know there are lots of food allergies, and one very good argument is that concessions aren't made for those allergic to those other foods (milk, soy, etc.) the way they are for those who are allergic to nuts. But it's also true that peanut allergies tend to mean more severe reactions, and they're less likely to be outgrown than a lot of those others.
For my daughter, that means that it's very likely that she'll still be dealing with this and asking for special treatment and hating to draw attention to her allergy into adulthood. But that's the way it is, and a little help is much appreciated.
I am a bit peeved by the people who seem to think "all the fuss" is just a bunch of parents overreacting and making it unnecessarily challenging for other people's kids to eat peanut butter sandwiches, but if you're going to have a balanced report, it does mean you have to let both sides have their say.
We have always tried to strike a good balance between being appropriately freaked-out by, and simultaneously reasonable about, Hannah's peanut allergy. We don't have peanuts at home, and we are really good at reading food labels. We picked a preschool that was consciously peanut-free and doesn't allow kids to bring food from home, so we're minimizing risk wherever we can. But we let her eat the cake at kids' birthday parties, and we eat out at restaurants all the time without creating a scene about what's in every single dish. (Besides, nothing on any kids' menu in any restaurant is very likely to have nuts in it, because it's all grilled cheese sandwiches, mac 'n' cheese and pizza.)
Still, having a kid with a food allergy - especially a peanut allergy, which is considered to be the most likely to result in the most serious reactions - means relying on other people to keep your kid safe...even more than any other parent has to do for any other kid. Our lesson on Epi-pens was terrifying, and even after carrying two with us everywhere we go for more than two years, I still live in fear of the day I might actually have to use them. I still catch my breath a bit when she eats a baked good that I have not been able to completely inspect, even if it is totally logical that a sugar cookie should be fine. But I also don't want to be "that mom" who makes a big huge deal out of stuff. I just want my kid to be able to eat without worrying that she's going to end up swollen in hives and unable to breathe.
Hannah's getting to the age where we are trying to teach her more about what it means that she's allergic to peanuts, and that she has to ask about new foods before she tries them. I think she's starting to get it - she at least knows that peanuts will make her "very sick." But I don't want to freak her out, either.
But I also want other parents to understand that peanut allergies are serious, and if you're not dealing with a food allergy in your family you should be grateful, certainly, but you should also be respectful of those who are. We don't want to be a pain, and we hate that we have to ask for special treatment sometimes. But we do it anyway, because we want our kids to be able to go out for ice cream just like yours (so we ask the person at the counter to go wash the scoop before they get Hannah's vanilla, or we just go for soft-serve straight from the machine); and we want our kids to be able to eat lunch with their friends without worrying about anything bad happening; heck, we also want them to be able to fly in a plane without fear, so is it really that big a deal if the airline has to give you pretzels rather than peanuts? We're just trying to keep them safe, and while we don't want to have to ask for your help, we still have to. You would, too, if it were your kid.
I know there are lots of food allergies, and one very good argument is that concessions aren't made for those allergic to those other foods (milk, soy, etc.) the way they are for those who are allergic to nuts. But it's also true that peanut allergies tend to mean more severe reactions, and they're less likely to be outgrown than a lot of those others.
For my daughter, that means that it's very likely that she'll still be dealing with this and asking for special treatment and hating to draw attention to her allergy into adulthood. But that's the way it is, and a little help is much appreciated.
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